PR: What Not to Do: Forgetting Where You Are

It’s very important, with a press release, to realize that you’re talking to an international audience. So if you want coverage for your local event, it’s a huge help if you put the physical site of your news in at least the first paragraph of your release.

I was reminded of this with a recent email. The headline conveniently said “A Comic Ship Is Reaching Out to Local Artists: The Shop Will Be Hosting a Monthly Art Jam and Other Events In 2011”, but it wasn’t until the next-to-last paragraph that they bothered to say they were located in Florida. Which made their classes and get-togethers not relevant to me.

Also, all the event links were to Facebook, which I don’t support. Perhaps that makes me recalcitrant or old-fashioned, but I’m not going to create an account on a site I disagree with just to see your marketing copy. If you think this:

is the best representation of your store or event, then I’m not part of your audience anyway. This is the internet, open to everyone. If you want us to read your information enough to craft a press release, then put it where we can all get to it, and give us the key information we need right away up top.